


a fragile word

by blancwene



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Prinsessen paa Ærten | The Princess and the Pea - Hans Christian Andersen
Genre: Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-20
Updated: 2011-09-20
Packaged: 2019-02-20 16:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13150923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blancwene/pseuds/blancwene
Summary: After the wedding is when she begins to really crumble.





	a fragile word

**Author's Note:**

> Commentfic from the 2011 Bastardized Fairytales Fest on Livejournal.

_The perfect princess_ , they whisper, _so delicate, so dainty, so sensitive._

Their words dog her steps, prickling and itching beneath her flesh. The royal advisers speak of her new duties and responsibilities, _simple to one so fastidious, my dear._ The Old Queen tells her of the Prince's search for a real princess, _yet none were as they claimed. Until you._

The Court shadows her, every word, every gesture analyzed and compared to this mythical standard. She scratches her skin, traces the bruises on thighs and arms and side, searches for an irritant that has no physical form.

And worst of all, lying beneath him every night, she feels the oppressive weight of his expectations-- _the perfect princess with the perfect bloodline_ \--and hates him. Hates that he hid his dynastic obsessions behind an act of kindness. Hates that he trapped her with her own fragility.

The blemishes increase and multiply; he revels in them, relishing the vulnerability of a Real Princess.

She remembers the rain and the wind and the desperation that drove her to knock on that gate. And she wishes that she had never even stopped.


End file.
